From Affiliates to Creators: How to Scale Partner Programs Without Burning Out Your Team

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When affiliate managers talk about scale, most picture endless partner lists, vanity clicks, or spending more budget on paid traffic. However, Surfshark’s growth reveals another approach. In just 30 months, they reached 1 million paying users.

And while the milestone is impressive, the real value lies in the playbook behind it, a playbook that affiliate managers, advertisers, and brand owners can borrow today.

In Tapfiliate’s fresh podcast episode of Growth Lab, we sat down with Surfshark’s CMO, Regimantas Urbanas, to unpack that playbook in detail.

The conversation goes beyond the surface numbers and dives into the tactics that matter for affiliate managers today:

How to capture demand before creating it;
How to empower creators without compromising control;
How to keep a growing team aligned with OKRs, preventing burnout.

Let’s dig into the details.

Surfshark at a Glance

Surfshark started in 2018 as a challenger in the crowded VPN market. Within 30 months, the company hit 1 million paying users, and by 2024, that number had climbed past 3 million. The growth came with a relatively small team and without the budgets of industry giants.

“When people start looking you up and see influencers talking about you, it is proof you exist,” said Regimantas.

The company’s strategy leaned on demand capture, creator partnerships, and affiliate programs that treated partners as long-term investors rather than one-off traffic sources. That mindset turned a new entrant into one of the most recognized VPN brands worldwide.

Demand Before Creation: Capture What’s Already There

When you enter a crowded market, you can’t waste time convincing people why they need the category. You go straight to the ones already searching.

That was Surfshark’s starting point. They leaned on PPC and Google search to capture existing demand. Once that base was secured, the team expanded into influencer marketing, not just to reach new audiences but also to build brand credibility.

Influencer campaigns did more than drive conversions. They created the kind of visibility that makes a new brand feel alive and trusted.

Lesson for affiliate managers: Lock in intent-driven traffic first, then layer creators and affiliates to expand reach and build trust.

Niche Matters More Than Noise

Many new programs aim wide, chasing every affiliate they can find. Urbanas took the opposite approach.

“We said from the beginning: our VPN is for newbies. Easy language, $1.99 per month, unlimited devices. That was our niche.”

By lowering friction, the team captured people the industry had overlooked – the beginners who wanted simple solutions.

Lesson: A clear niche and low entry barrier convert better than broad, generic offers.

Creative Freedom Builds Long-Term Partners

Surfshark’s influencer marketing thrived because they didn’t micromanage creators.

“We gave them the problems we solve and the benefits, but we let them tell the story their way,” Urbanas said. “That freedom is why we have so many long-term partners.”

This flexibility helped Surfshark become the second most-advertised brand on YouTube through influencers.

Lesson: affiliates and creators know their audiences best. Give them room to translate your message — it builds authenticity and long-term loyalty.

Treat Affiliates Like Investors

Too many programs either neglect their partners or drown them in micromanagement. Surfshark treated affiliates differently.

“Partners want to know they’re betting on the right brand,” Urbanas said. “We paid fairly, even for refunded acquisitions, and built custom funnels just for them. It was about showing them they’d make a good business with us.”

Lesson: Affiliates are extensions of your brand. The earlier you invest in their success with tools, fair payouts, and trust, the faster you’ll climb their rankings and earn consistent placement.

Keeping Focus With OKRs

Urbanas admits: “Marketing is just fixing the funnel, week after week.” But focus matters. That’s where OKRs came in.

OKRs are like Google Maps. You set the destination, but you can change the route if traffic hits.

Surfshark tied high-level goals (like billings from influencers) to levers they could control (videos launched, conversion rate, partner retention). That way, teams stayed aligned without burning out.

Lesson: For affiliate managers, OKRs should mean selecting a few key quarterly KPIs, such as new sign-ups, retained affiliates, or revenue share, and then identifying the levers you can pull. The tactics can shift as long as the goal stays clear.

What’s Next for Affiliate Programs?

When asked about the future, Urbanas pointed to three priorities:

Prepare for the AI shift in search. Organic clicks are shrinking as AI overviews deliver answers directly in SERPs. Authority will matter more than hacks.
Double down on brand while attribution blurs. Ad blockers and privacy laws make perfect tracking impossible. Focus on profitability at the market level, and build brand trust so partners keep choosing you.
Stay curious. “Each day, I learn from podcasts, YouTube, and peers,” he said. Curiosity and continuous learning keep your strategy ahead of the curve.

Key Takeaway

If you want your affiliate program to grow, start simple. Go after the demand that already exists, get crystal clear on your niche, treat your partners like gold, and set OKRs that push your team forward without pushing them over the edge.

As Urbanas put it:

“Marketing is just fixing the funnel, week after week.”

That steady, partner-first, focused mindset is what turns affiliate programs from side projects into real growth engines.